Birth of the Fairy of the City Ella's Quest
by desertoasisqueen
Summary: Ella's sister Swift is the first girl to enroll at Red Fountain, but then Swift goes missing, and Ella decides to go on a quest to find the truth of what happened to her. Along the way, she discovers her destiny and the source of a great evil that must be destroyed at all costs. Please RnR!
1. Ella's Quest Begins

"Fairies, huh?" the first red-head spat. "No, I don't believe in those." Then she chuckled.

"Neither do I," the second one scoffed, sitting in their school's bathroom, biding their time as the rush of the noisy city through the speckled glass behind them droned on.

"So, what are you going to do then, Swift?" the second one said as she leaned forward, pushing herself off the bathroom's heater.

"I'm not going to Alfea, that's for sure, even if they do tell me that I have special powers or what not. Or that it's rare for a fairy from the city of Fyura Ratchett to exist."

Silence.

"But you know, Ella. I'm thinking something else instead."

"Oh really? What?"

"I'm thinking of joining Red Fountain," she said as she looked up at the ceiling.

"But, that's for guys."

"Sooo?" Swift responded, slightly annoyed. "I can't help it. I feel like that's what I want to do. What I should do. I feel like it's...what I'm destined for."

"Well, you do have the highest racing score in Fyura's Indy Street Racing competitions each year. And then there's your history with martial arts, and-"

The bell suddenly rang, and both girls looked up.

"Well, looks like we have to get to class. We can talk about this later, at home," Ella said as she started for the bathroom door.

"Hmmm," Swift nodded. "Yeah, see you later, after class."

The bathroom scene faded.

Ella opened her eyes, wide, her head against her pillow, red hair flared out around her. The sounds of the cars rushing by outside her bedroom window droned on and on.

"Swift," she mouthed to the air around her. "What happened to you?"

….

Ella got dressed in her usual: blue jeans, red shirt with long sleeves and cut off at the midriff. She headed downstairs. Her mother was in her usual spot, staring at the TV with her eyes glazed over from lack of sleep. Ella shook her head at her. Ever since Swift had gone missing, her mother had been like that for days and nights: sleepless, glued to the TV, in a daze.

"I'm going to school, mom," Ella yelled over the TV.

Her mother grunted in response but made no motion to acknowledge her.

Then Ella was out the door.

…

"So, Ella, how's your mom doing?" Ella's best friend, Nero said as they walked towards school.

Ella shrugged. "Same as usual, y'know."

"And you?"

"Fine."

"No. I don't really think so."

"Look Nero," Ella turned and glared at her friend. "When I say I'm fine, I mean it. I'm fine."

Nero shook her head. "Uh uh," she said.

"Look! I get it! That's she's gone or whatever. But what I don't understand is the how. Headmaster Salador sent us a personal condolence about it and all, but none of it makes any sense. They said it was a driving incident...that they found her hoverbike at the edge of a high, narrow road, crashed, with no signs of her, but I think there's more to the story than that. Swift was a good driver. An excellent driver actually, so how can-?"

"Well, you know Ella, accidents do happen.."

"It's not just that.." Ella looked down at her open palms. Lately they had started burning, as if some inner rage was seeping through them...or something else. "I feel...in my gut...that something is very, very wrong with the situation." She clenched them together, as if to squeeze every last bit of the tension from her hands. "And that's that."

Nero frowned. "Whatever you say," she said then with a fake smile.

…

It was nighttime. Silence.

Then the sound of crunching metal and squealing tires followed by the sound of a loud crash.

Then nothing but silence and a heavy black mist hanging over everything.

Ella ran towards the sound of the crashing, panting hard. Her heart felt as if it would beat out of her chest as she slowed to a walk when the crashing sound stopped.

The mist was parting.

There was something glowing in the distance, a red aura of some kind.

Ella held up her hands in order to shield her eyes from the aura's deep glow as she stumbled towards it. "What...is that?" she thought.

"Where am I?"

"Oh no.."

There were rows and rows of grey stone slabs all jutting up from the ground. So many of them, all packed together. The red light giving off the deep aura flew high into the air and illuminated the black sky above her. Rows upon rows of the same thing, for miles around. All of the slabs had the same black, shiny, marble look to them. They all reflected the glow of the red light above her, which had grown so bright it was almost a small star.

She picked her way through the rows, trying to make sense of it all.

She knew where she was. This was Fyura Ratchett's city graveyard, where its citizens were laid to rest in stone mausoleums below ground.

But she couldn't recall seeing so many of them in the past.

Then something caught her eye in the distance, a blue flicker of something in contrast with the red aura bearing down on her.

Through two of the stone slabs she could see an empty space where there were none. Only solid ground and what appeared to be a computer monitor.

Blue static danced across its screen.

Then Swift's face popped on it.

She was smiling, happy. Something Ella had rarely seen in her sister until that night...that night right before she disappeared.

"...don't worry, Ella..." her sister said through the monitor, and Ella was suddenly back in her room on that very night. She had been talking to her sister through the computer monitor in her room as she always did, laying flat on her bed.

"I'll be fine...Now, I'm going...Don't worry about me. You should be happy for me. Because I'm happy for the first time in my life. You should be happy for me Ella..."

"You should be happy for me, Ella..."

"You should be happy for me, Ella..."

Over and over again, the TV monitor played it.

"..but I was wrong, Ella!" A voice cut in her head suddenly snapped, full of bitter anger and remorse.

Ella's head snapped up. Tears were welling in the corners of her eyes. Her sister's voice.

"Swift!" she yelled, running for the monitor.

But by the time she reached it, it had disappeared.

Another stone slab stood in its place, the grey and red helmet of her sister's hanging off the side of it.

Ellla ran up to it and banged her hands on the stone in frustration. "Noooo!" she cried, the tears squeezing out of her eyes as she clenched them shut.

"Come and find me Ella," the voice whispered behind her. Was it coming from the red light? No...

"Come and find the truth about what happened to me...and hurry..." it warned.

No..this couldn't be her sister...could it?

"Come and find the truth before it's too late..!"

…

Ella woke with a start, her body drenched in cold sweat.

It was the dead of night, and although the visions of the dream had faded, they were still with her. She shifted the covers aside and sat up. She could still feel the enriching energy of the red aura bearing down on her. It was so strong..powerful...she felt a deep connection to it for some reason...even though it had been so foreboding...

Outside her window the streets rattled with cars zooming by. Skyscrapers with glass squares of lights carried high into the sky until their tops disappeared behind the cover of light-catching, night clouds. Fyura Ratchett was a city on the edge of the Magix Dimension. It was really the only place in the dimension completely metropolitan and modern, with little or no signs of the magic powers that governed the other worlds. It was a place that had forsaken magic for racing cars, speedways, nights and days that never saw sleep or rest...

But Ella loved everything about the city.

And so had her sister Swift.

She could feel the regret hanging in the air. Regret for leaving it behind for something perhaps grander...that had turned to dust.

And, realizing that her sister was with her now, Ella realized that she had to find out the truth.

What had really happened? What terrible calamity had befallen her sister?

She had to leave. She had to head deeper into the Magix Dimension. To Red Fountain. To find the truth.

And she would leave tomorrow.


	2. Journey to Red Fountain

**Episode 2 - Journey to RedFountain**

_After a terrible nightmare in which her sister visited her for help, Ella decided to journey to Red Fountain to speak with Headmaster Salador and other members of the elite private academy about what may have really happened to her sister. Her journey there will lead to unusual clues...and another visit from her sister.__**  
**_  
Ella brought her small suitcase down the stairs the next morning. Her mother was in the same place as always, eyes glued to some game show. "Mom," Ella tried to get her attention. "Mooooom. Mom!"

Her mother's eyes flicked over to her, then down to the suitcase at her feet. "Ella," she yawned. "What is that? Where are you going?"

"I'm leaving for Red Fountain. I'll be back in two days."

"Red Fountain?!" she exclaimed. Her eyes, puffy from exhaustion and despair, narrowed. "Why, Ella?"

"To find out what happened to my sister."

Her mother said nothing, but her eyes seemed to well up.

"Look mom, I don't want to go into too many details, but let's just say that she's here with us, with me. She wants me to go. She wants me to find out what happened to her and turn the right into a wrong."

Her mother continued to stare at her, listening but not really hearing what her daughter had to say.

"So I'm going. I'll see you soon."

"But what about school?"

"It's the weekend, mom."

"Ohhhh," she leaned forward, sagging over her knees. "Ella, don't torture yourself over this. We know what happened to Swift, and nothing you can do will ever bring her back."

"Damn it, mother! Do you really think moaning and moping about it all day long will change anything either?"

Her mother gasped at this, as the words truly began to sink in.

"I'm sorry, mom," Ella replied, turning towards the door. "But it's the truth."

Her mother didn't say anything back. She only stared at the foot of the stairs.

…

As Ella boarded the shuttle that would take her deeper into the Magix Dimension, she couldn't help but think about her mother. She settled into her seat near the back of the shuttle, by a window as usual. As the jets of the shuttle flared up and the rearing sound of rushing air filled the shuttle's interior, people shuffled into their seats. Ella stared out the window as the shuttle took off and headed for Fyura Ratchett's cloud coverings. _"Damn it, Mother,"_ the words came back to her._ "Do you really think moaning and moping about it all day long will change anything?"_

"Maybe I shouldn't have said that," she muttered to herself.

No. Her mother needed to hear the truth.

The shuttle was leaving the city far behind. Even the tops of the city's tallest buildings were growing smaller and smaller and the clouds around them farther and farther away as they gained altitude. The jets hummed beneath the floor of her feet, and Ella realized that this was the first time she had been away from Fyura Ratchett in a long time.

But would she really be okay back home? now that Swift was...gone, if something happened to Ella it would be too much to bear.

"Why am I thinking like this?" she thought. "Nothing's going to happen. I'll be fine."

But she couldn't help but shake the nagging feeling at the back of her neck that something was definitely off about the situation.

They were in space now. Ella watched as distant planets passed by. The shuttle neared one in particular, a dense, cold surface Ella knew to be the Omega Dimension. She shuddered at the sight of it. Only Magix worst got sent there.

The rest of the trip went smooth.

...

"Wow, look at the size of this place," Ella said as she stood at the entrance to Red Fountain, looking up at it. "But, there are still way bigger buildings in Fyura Ratchett."

She looked around. "I wonder if I can speak to Headmaster Salador, or at least someone who can take me to him."

It was then that she noticed two tall boys coming her direction. One had black hair cut short, with a spiky green cropping that looked like grass sprouts on the top of his head near his forehead. The other had dark skin and hazel eyes. She waited until they came closer to her. "Hey, what's this?" one of the guys said. "You lost or something?"

"No, actually, I'm not," she replied. "I was wondering if I could talk to Salador. Do I need an appointment or something?"

The boy with the mohawk started to laugh. "What for? You plannin' on enrolling or something, girl?"

Ella narrowed her eyes. "And so what if I was! What the hell's wrong with that?!"

"Yeah, quit quiddin' around," mohawk man grabbed his stomach, laughing from his gut. "All we need is another-"

"Quill.." his friend hissed at him.

"Y'know what?!" Ella yelled, too angry to notice what he had just said. "All I need to know is how I can arrange a meeting with your headmaster? Is that so friggin' difficult?!"

"Hey. You don't get to talk to Salador, until we say you can talk to him," Quill said, stepping towards her.

"Hey, you'd better back off, because I'm not really in the mood to-"

"What's going on here?" a gentle voice cut through.

The two men parted as a taller figure approached them. This one was a male with long, wavy blonde hair and piercing, blue eyes. He had a neatly trimmed fu manchu as well and a very serious smile that broadened when he saw Ella.

"I'm sorry," he said. "We're my two friends upsetting you?"

"Uh, yeah, actually they were."

"My apologies...again."

"And who are you exactly?"

"I'm Lind. I'm a student here at Red Fountain and so are my two friends, Quill and Jameson. Are you a relative of one of the students here?"

"You might say that," she smirked. "Look, all I want to know is how I can talk to Salador. It's an urgent matter." But something inside her said not to say anymore.

"Well, my dear lady," Lind strolled towards her. "You can have anything you desire. Unfortunately, if you want to talk to Salador, you'll have to fill out an application for an appointment on our school's website. I assume you know it already. I'll mention it to him as well, next time we meet."

"Uh, thanks. Yeah, I have it somewhere," Ella said. Lind was standing beside her.

"No problem, of course." He reached his hand down to lay it on her shoulder...

..and that's when Ella felt it. A curious energy streaking through the air and snaking itself around her body.

Lind's hand froze.

The wind shifted around them.

Then it was gone but Lind had withdrawn his hand by that time.

"What was that?" Ella thought. "Swift...?"

"Well, uh, it was nice meeting you, Miss, uh..."

"Ella..." she said, distracted.

"Ella, but my friends and I must get to class. Take care." They started to head for the building.

Ella continued to stand there, feeling the wind at her back and wondering what to do next.

…

"Ella...! Ella...! Can you hear me?"

Ella was floating in darkness. Her sister's voice filled the air around her.

"Swift...? Is that you?"

"Ella, I need you to listen to me. I need you to recall..."

"Swift! Was that you that I felt earlier...?"

Her sister didn't answer.

"Swift..!"

"I need you to recall...recall that night when we last talked..!"

She was floating towards something. Something glowing. Something blue. It was that computer monitor from her previous dream. Hanging in the blackness, blue light illuminating the space in front of it.

Suddenly, she was back in that scene. The last scene in her room where she had been talking to her sister. This time it played from the beginning...

She tapped the computer button and the screen popped up. Her sister was there, smiling. "Hey Ella."

"Swift," Ella flopped on her bed, belly down, facing the screen. "How's it going? Those boys treating you better yet?"

"Yeah, it was just a friendly rivalry going on. They're alright now. Especially..." And Swift blushed a little.

"Especially...who?" Ella smirked.

"No one..no one important..."

"Yeah, right. There's someone important...Do you have a crush on someone? For the first time?" Ella teased.

"Stop it, Ella! I do not...anyway..I'm going out tonight. It's a club. I was invited by those guys. There's gonna be drinking and dancing and some games. It's going to be so much fun."

"Oh great. Well, be careful, Swift. You know how boys can get..."

"Don't worry," Swift sighed. "These guys aren't like the jerks back on Fyura Ratchett. They're actual gentleman."

"Good for you. That's what you need."

"Come on Ella, I'll be fine...Now, I'm going...Don't worry about me. You should be happy for me. Because I'm happy for the first time in my life."

And Ella had to truly smile back at her sister. Yeah..it seemed that way...she was glad...

"You coming, Swift?" a husky voice said from the distance behind Swift.

Suddenly Ella froze. That voice...It sounded so familiar...

"Yeah, Jameson. Just give me a few minutes..."

"Sure!"

Jameson...that name...

Suddenly the scene vanished. Ella was floating in darkness yet again. "Those guys.." she thought.

"Swift!" She called to her sister in the darkness. "Just tell me, are you alive or dead?!"

"That's for you to discover, Ella..."

"Why can't you just tell me what happened to you?"

But it was too late. Ella was awake, sweating again into the pillow in her hotel room.


	3. At the Sight of the Crash

**Episode 3 - The Sight of the Crash  
**  
_Ella arrives at Red Fountain and has a run in with three students there: Quill, Jameson, and Lind. While Lind was very helpful, his two friends were less than welcoming. Later, Ella realized that Jameson was with her sister Swift on the night she disappeared. Were his friends there as well? It's all a matter of time as Ella finally meets with Salador in this next episode...and has another run-in with Lind and his friends that yield some interesting results._

"Ahh, welcome to Red Fountain, Ella."

"Thank you for taking the time to speak with me, Master Salador."

It was the next day, and Ella was at her intended appointment with the school's Headmaster.

"Do you intend to enroll, Ella? Or are you visiting the school on behalf of another family member?"

"Oh, I'm not interested in enrolling," Ella said, looking around at the school's prestigious inner hallways. "My sister, Swift, enrolled at this school already. I'm actually here to talk to you about her."

Salador's face fell. "I am really very sorry. It was such a tragic loss."

"Why don't you step into my office. We can talk there."

As Ella's and the Headmaster's footsteps retreated down the hall, Quill was listening in on their conversation, his eyes narrowed.

…

"I don't believe my sister is dead, Master Salador."

His eyebrows raised at this. Ella shook her head.

"But I'm not going to get into too much detail about that. I just need to know the circumstances up until the night she disappeared, in full detail, if you can provide them. We weren't told much of anything, my mom and I." Ella looked down.

"I don't know very much either, unfortunately. My colleagues, the, uh, other professors at this school, and some of the students, may know more. But I will tell you what I do know, from what I have been told by others."

"Tell me, then."

"From what I understand and was told, she went missing on a school holiday."

"That part we know already."

"There was evidently some kind of challenge going on, involving a race with her and some other boys from our school. It was over on Drop Off Cliffs, and," Salador scratched his head. "From what I understand, it was your sister's idea to have the race."

Ella said nothing, only narrowed her eyes, then shrugged. It checked. That was something her sister would do.

"But the race went horribly wrong, and your sister ended up crashing at the edge of the cliffs. Her body was tossed from the wreckage and never found again."

"Who were the other boys involved in the race, headmaster?" Ella crossed her arms.

"Hmm, that I'm not sure about, but I believe Quill and Jameson may have been."

"Were they the ones who told you all about this? Or did you hear about it from someone else?"

Salador shook his head. "I heard it from Quill actually. He and his friends expressed their deepest condolences over the tragedy, and then you and your family were notified right away."

Ella's eyes narrowed. Something didn't feel right about the situation. "From Quill, you say? Can I ask you something then, Headmaster?"

"Yes, anything."

"Are the boys here all as well behaved as this school intends them to be? Or is it all really just a cover?" By the time the words had popped out, Ella's eyes raised in shock. She had sounded so bitter about it, and where had that just come from anyway?

Salador looked shocked himself. He shook his head and stepped towards Ella. "Our school prides itself on rising Heroes and Gentleman. I have no doubt that the integrity of each and everyone of the student's here prevails. Now, is there anything else?"

"Uh yeah, actually. Would it be alright if I talked to some of the boys involved? Or any of the other professors here? Just to see if anybody knows anything else?"

For a moment, Salador looked confused. "Well, I-" Then his eyes seemed to grow cold and they narrowed. "No, absolutely not."

"Huh?" Ella said.

"I said, No!" Salador advanced on her. "In fact, you will leave the premises immediately. Is that understood, Ella?" he spat the last part.

Ella backed up, shocked and a little afraid. "Headmaster?"

"Leave!"

For a moment, she said and did nothing, only stared at the Headmaster. Then her eyes narrowed, and she straightened up. "Fine then, don't do me any favors."

Ella turned and left the door, as unfazed on the outside as ever. But inside, she felt confused and her heart was stammering. What the hell had that been about?

Salador stared at the space where she had just been. His eyes returned to normal and he shook his head. "What? What just happened? Where did that girl go?"

…

Outside, Ella was walking away from the college. "Now what?" she thought, with a quick glance back.

Then something popped into her mind. "I know! The Drop Off Cliffs! I'll go there and see if I can find something. It's a shame, though. I wanted to ask Salador more about them, but he was acting really weird."

Then she heard the noise of a motor getting louder and louder. She looked up and saw a hover bike speeding towards her. Its rider was someone with long, flowing blonde hair trailing behind him as he came to a stop. Lind.

Ella stopped walking as he slowed his bike to a stop in front of her.

"Hey, Ella," he said after he removed his helmet. "Do you need a ride somewhere?"

"Uh, I would-" but stopped. Something literally caught the words in her throat and she couldn't get them out. "Refuse, Ella," she heard a voice say at the back of her head.

"...would NOT like a ride. Uh, I need to get back to my hotel actually." She started to walk away, but two figures were coming towards her. She recognised them. Quill and Jameson.

"Aww, come on," Quill said. "What kind of gentleman would we be if we didn't escort you back to your hotel? It is getting dark, you know?"

Ella narrowed her eyes. "Yeah, and you're some gentleman. Now get out of my way, jack ass."

"No," Quill hissed.

She could hear Lind getting off his bike from behind her. He was coming towards her. She turned.

Suddenly, the air was charged with radiant energy. A wind kicked up so strong that it shook the nearby trees and bushes. There was a red energy surging around her. It was surging from her.

Lind and the others stepped back, surprised.

"Don't come any closer," a bitter voice slurred from her. The wind was whipping around them at hurricane force. Jameson, Quill and Lind struggled against it as it threatened to blow them away. It was like the hot wind during a race, like the hot steam bubbling up during a traffic jam at rush hour from the exhaust pipes of the cars.

Finally, they couldn't stand it anymore. "Let's get out of here," Jameson cried. He turned and ran.

Lind and Quil followed, running towards Red Fountain as fast they could.

When they were gone, the wind stopped. The red energy vanished, and Ella dropped to her knees, gasping for breath at the power that had just surrounded her.

"Wha-?"

"Ella..." a voice said in her head. "You're in danger. You have to find out what happened to me now."

"Swift...?"

"Things are moving faster than I expected. Go to the Drop Off Cliffs. I'll guide you when you get there. Hurry now!"

As Ella started for the Cliffs, following her sister's voice, Lind watched her from a room in Red Fountain. His eyes narrowed.

…

"Woah," Ella gaped openly at the Cliffs. They were almost as high as some of the buildings back on Ella's homeworld of Fyura Ratchett. They curved around in a crescent shape, creating, in the center, a pass so narrow that a hover bike could hardly pass through it. Ella stepped to the edge of the Cliffs and looked down. All she could see were miles and miles of steep, craggy rock, occasionally with a narrow path or landing jutting out. The base of the cliffs slipped away into empty sky and cloud cover.

It was getting dark out.

"Alright, Swift. I'm here. Now what?"

But nothing answered her.

"Swift...?!"

She turned. Something in the distance caught her eye. A gleaming beacon of some sort.

She started for it, heading towards the narrow pass.

When she was about to start to cross over it, the beacon suddenly flew towards her. It swirled around her as it flew into the air and stopped above her head. Ella recognised something about it. It was her sister's energy.

She looked up and the ball of red energy started forward a little ahead of her. She followed it into the mouth of the pass.

"Woah," she said. The wind kicked up, and Ella felt as if it would blow her off and over the side of the pass.

"This is where the accident happened, isn't it?" she thought.

"There was no accident," Swift's voice cut into her head.

"What?!"

"Ella, look to your left...and down."

Ella did so. There, in the gathering darkness, was a narrow path leading down the side of the cliff to a small landing a little ways down. Something on the edge of the cliff caught Ella's eye. It was red and silver. Her eyes widened suddenly.

It was her sister's helmet!

She started for it, picking her way down the path as she struggled to keep from sliding down it. "Tell me more, Swift!"

But the ball of light danced in front of her, zipping down the path and disappearing around the side of it.

Ella followed it to safety on the landing. She followed the curve of the cliffside until she came to the entrance of a deep cave. It was completely dark inside, and Ella hesitated before entering it. But the ball of light zipped ahead, and she had no choice but to follow until she was completely enveloped in darkness, and the outside world was growing dimmer and farther away.

The ball stopped moving in front of her face. Then it expanded, dousing the cave walls in red light.

Ella looked around her in wonder, looking for something, anything that would lead to her sister's whereabouts. Finally, she spotted it on the floor, a piece of ripped clothing. Running forward, she knelt before it and lifted it with one hand.

It looked like a piece from a shirt, a red shirt. Her sister's?

A soft glow caught her attention and she looked up. There was a piece of rock sticking out from the wall in front of her. From at first glance, it looked like part of the wall...but there was a tiny, red aura permeating the shape of the rock that indicated something else.

Ella went towards it, and suddenly she had the tremendous urge to try and push it aside, even though her mind was telling her that that was crazy.

As soon as she touched it, the glow disappeared.

It took some trying, and she almost gave up halfway, believing that it was all madness. But there was the glow of the red ball of energy above her, and she recalled her dreams. She pushed with all might, and with a sudden grating sound, the rock gave and slid open.

On the other side was a sight that Ella would never forget. Ever.

**A/N: So what do you think? Love it? Hate it? Leave me a review or comment, even if it's only just one line! :-)**


End file.
